The present disclosure is related to multi-phase power switching, and more particularly to a cross-communicating multi-phase power control switch.
Power distribution systems, such as aircraft AC power systems, often include a requirement that each of multiple phases be operated and controlled simultaneously by separate power channels. As a result of using separate channels, there can be short, undesirable, periods when some phases of the power distribution system are on and other phases are off. Communication between the controller (or controllers) in each power channel is utilized to synchronize the separate channels and to minimize these periods.
In conventional systems, each of the power channels is referenced to a local reference voltage from a local power supply isolated from a reference voltage of the overall power distribution system. The independent power supply is referred to as a floating power supply. Due to the floating reference voltages, each solid state power controller cannot communicate directly with each other power controller without using an isolator circuit to isolate the communication signals from the reference voltage. The inclusion of an isolator circuit to connect each power controller in a power control switch to each other power controller in the power control switch, and thereby enable cross-communication between the controllers, is heavy and expensive. To get around this limitation, some existing power distribution systems connect each solid-state power controller to a systems level controller outside of the power control switch. This control method includes an additional time delay, and does not allow for all of the features that can be derived from direct cross-communication between each of the power controllers.